By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON March 30, 2011 – For those who are new to the business of running for elected office an election campaign can be quite overwhelming and it takes a bit for even the most experienced to get up to speed.
For those running as candidates for the provincial seat in the October election the challenge is greater than normal. They have to find a place to be seen and heard when there is a federal election going on and at a time when Burlington is in the process of figuring out its budget.
Earlier this week the provincial government delivered its budget, the last one before the October election. We felt it good news policy to ask each candidate for a short comment on the budget. We did not seek a comment from the sitting member, Joyce Savoline, because a) she doesn’t communicate with us and b) she is not running in the fall election. So we went our request for comment to each of the known candidates: Brian Heagle and Brad Reaume for the Progressive Conservatives, Karmel Sakran for the Liberals and Peggy Russell for the New Democrats. The response was disappointing.
Getting the hang of provincial politics. Treated the budget as a political document.
Russell came back with: Not available this evening…I was tied up all day with my 3 grandchildren and will need to do some research tomorrow to get caught up. The chances of Burlington electing a New Democrat to the Legislature are thin, extremely thin – but Bob Rae did form a government in 1990 – so you never know.
Brian Heagle got back to us with: The Provincial Liberals tabled a budget which tells us much about their style of leadership. In particular, the McGuinty budget increases spending, adds debt and delays the hard decisions – yet calls that being fiscally responsible. It also sets the stage for even more tax hikes. Ontario deserves better.
The budget reflects why we need a change in leadership to Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Party.
Sakran needed time to prepare a comment on the provincial budget – lawyer needs to catch up with his reading.
Heagle is learning to play the game. He was once a serious Liberal being groomed as the Liberal candidate but underwent a ‘conversion’ and is now a blue, blue, blue Tory.
The Liberals felt that with the incumbent, Joyce Savoline, deciding not to run again and The PC’s not having a clear heir apparent – that maybe the Liberals had a shot at winning the seat.
Well, needing a couple of days to figure out a response to a provincial budget that was clearly a political document as much as it was a budget won’t cut it for any of the candidates.
Stay tuned.
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This week’s provincial budget shows that Ontario is turning the corner on the global recession, and that jobs are coming back. That means a stronger economy so we can protect public health care and education while tackling the deficit in a responsible way.
I think this budget shows the McGuinty government is on the right track for our families, children, and seniors. The budget does not raise taxes, and the government has found ways to create efficiencies and cut costs. Still, it protects progress in health care, such as reducing wait times at our local hospital – while expanding breast cancer screening for women at risk and investing in children’s mental health. It protects our education system, so that more of our kids are graduating and going on to post-secondary education, while continuing full-day kindergarten. And it helps continue our economic recovery by investing in infrastructure and partnering with the private sector to create jobs.
Quite frankly, it is a responsible budget and the right approach to ensuring a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.
Karmel Sakran
“The response was disappointing.”
Maybe so, but it also seems to me that your sample was also less than complete.
Not that new media should be taking tips from old media, but isn’t this race a little more populated than you’re letting on? Moreover, hasn’t that been the case for the last five weeks?
https://www.thespec.com/opinion/columns/article/491180–jackson-has-his-eye-on-savoline-s-seat
https://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/959766–mpp-s-decision-not-to-run-again-spawns-discussion-about-who-will
https://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/973539–rene-papin-aims-to-represent-conservatives-in-burlington-during-fall-provincial-election
https://www.renepapin.com
The business of covering an election campaign can be quite overwhelming, but thoroughness and fairness are bedrock qualities that should inform all media coverage, whether it calls itself news (as this piece does) or just opinion. Those qualities not only serve our community best but also respect the intelligence of voters and honour a democracy built and defended at great human cost.